Meta Knight
Meta Knight is a major character in the Kirby series appearing in most of the games, manga, as well as the anime. The intrigue and popularity surrounding Meta Knight within the Kirby fandom largely lies in his shrouded motives and his striking likeness to Kirby himself. Due to Meta Knight's way of doing things and his often-hidden intentions, the relationship between Kirby and Meta Knight is unpredictable in nature, and range from anywhere between being bitter rivals to being steadfast allies to one another and can change at a moment's notice. He respects a code of honor, and always offers Kirby a sword whenever he fights against him. Meta Knight is a playable character in many spin-offs, and is presented in many of the newer games as a "friend or foe" character. Meta Knight is the leader of an army of soldiers known as the Meta-Knights, and captains a large airship called Battleship Halberd which may accompany him into the heat of battle. Although Meta Knight first appeared in Kirby's Adventure in 1993, his name was not known in the U.S. until the game Kirby's Avalanche was released in 1995. Description Meta Knight wears his trademark attire, which is his silver mask and his blue or dark purple Dimensional Cape with gold trimmings, and a pair of patched or metallic shoes. He has retractable bat-like wings and flies with them in the games. The wings' first prominent use is in Kirby Super Star, where Meta Knight chased Kirby near the end of Revenge of Meta Knight. In Kirby Air Ride, he flies with them whenever he takes part in a race. Meta Knight's weapon of choice is usually the Galaxia Sword, which is a spiked golden sword with an embedded ruby in the hilt. Meta Knight's most well-known trait is the fact that he is almost never seen with his mask off. In a few games, his mask is split into two upon defeat, revealing a face near-identical to Kirby's with misty white eyes and mouth and bright pink cheeks. In the event that he is ever unmasked, he immediately departs the field of battle. His similarity to Kirby has led to speculation that he is a member of Kirby's species. Meta Knight was originally depicted black, wearing a usually-crimson cape and without any armor besides his mask (with yellow glowing eyes in artwork). In Kirby's Avalanche, he had pauldrons, violet shoes, and a brighter skin tone. His design was revised again in Kirby Super Star. In Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, he was made bigger than Kirby and given a yellow strap to hold his mask in place. Since Kirby Air Ride, official artwork shows his sword reflecting Galaxia's design in the anime. Since Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Meta Knight was again re-sized to Kirby's height and the yellow strap was often removed. His pauldrons always have a yellow lining and often gray in color, but are sometimes dark blue. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Kirby's Return to Dream Land, his left pauldron bears a version of his insignia, which is an "M" in front of a downward-pointing sword. Meta Knight's cape is blue in all instances except Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where it is purple. The blushes on his face are almost always clearly pink, though they were toned very light in Kirby Super Star. Meta Knight's mask apparently gives a yellowish tint to the wearer's eyes. Meta Knight's white eyes turn yellow, and Kirby's blue eyes become light green (first seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl) when they wear it, although his eyes also change color when his emotions change in the anime. When they are blue, he feels happy or content. When they turn pink in the anime, he is amused, or something grabbed his attention. When they turn green in the anime, he is in deep thought, focused on something, or solving a problem. When they turn dark red, he is angry or possibly disturbed or suspicious. If they ever flash a mix of colors, he feels all the emotions that he is flashing. History Kirby's Adventure and Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land Meta Knight debuted in Kirby's Adventure as a minor character and a boss. When Nightmare tries to take control of Dream Land by corrupting the Fountain of Dreams, King Dedede entrusts Meta Knight with a piece of the broken Star Rod because he knows that his powers and his followers, the Meta-Knights, would prove to be a valuable asset against Nightmare's forces. He appears again in the game's remake, Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, with the same role, with his updated design similar to Kirby Super Star. Throughout the game, Meta Knight sometimes helps Kirby by giving him invincibility candy (only clear in Kirby's Adventure), but also hinders his progress by summoning his foot soldiers against him. By the time Kirby reaches Orange Ocean, Meta Knight challenges Kirby personally before he can reach Rainbow Resort and later the Fountain of Dreams. Meta Knight's true intentions can only be speculated, but it appears that he wishes to prepare Kirby for his final confrontation against Nightmare. Whenever he fights Kirby, Meta Knight always gives Kirby a sword to fight with (which Kirby must collect in order to fight him). Meta Knight attacks Kirby with his sword as well as by brute force via charging into him; Meta Knight can also block attacks which are thrown his way (becoming increasingly frequent as he loses health). Regarded as one of the most difficult bosses in Kirby's Adventure, the fight against Meta Knight was made significantly easier in the remake. Additionally, his moves are highly telegraphed and thus can be predicted and countered with enough close attention. During the fight, it is not possible for Kirby to lose the Sword ability, and the ability he had earlier (only if Kirby takes the sword with the ability still in his immediate possession: viable discarded abilities do not count) will be restored after completing the Meta Knight boss fight stage: this is true for both the Main Game and Boss Endurance. Achieving 100% completion in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land in Extra Mode unlocks the Meta Knightmare sub-game. Meta Knightmare is the same as the regular game, but the player controls Meta Knight instead of Kirby. Meta Knight plays through the first seven levels and even fights another Meta Knight at the end of Orange Ocean. Due to the fact that Meta Knightmare is a sub-game, the player is unable to save throughout the adventure and must complete it in one sitting from the beginning to the end. Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra Before the release of Kirby Super Star, Meta Knight was still considered an obscure and underdeveloped character in the series. Although Meta Knight managed to make an appearance in the spin-off, Kirby's Avalanche, he missed out on Kirby's Dream Land 2. Kirby Super Star's release in 1996 features him as the antagonist with his own sub-game named Revenge of Meta Knight. This is considered to be his most well-known appearance in the series yet, which attributed to much of his popularity and subsequent appearances, which are based on this particular emergence. Revenge of Meta Knight In Revenge of Meta Knight, Meta Knight intends to dominate Dream Land to put an end to its lazy lifestyle. With help from the Meta-Knights, Meta Knight's ultimate weapon, the Halberd, spreads its wings and takes to the sky, but Kirby intervenes and attacks the Halberd. Kirby boards the Halberd, which infuriates Meta Knight, so he ends up blasting him down into the ocean below with the Halberd's jets. Kirby gains a Warp Star and attempts to board again, but is shot down by Combo Cannon and lands in the forest. With the help of Dyna Blade, Kirby boards the battleship once more, and destroys it piece by piece. With his crew beaten and his ship losing altitude fast, Meta Knight eventually decides to fight Kirby himself. Again, he offers Kirby a sword, but this time the player can refuse it if they so desire by not taking it within several seconds. Doing this makes the battle longer, which is potentially dangerous due to the time limit. Meta Knight can parry attacks with his sword during the battle, and summon giant tornadoes to send Kirby up in the air and do damage. Some of his sword slash attacks can be inhaled and spat back at him. After being defeated, he quickly departs for a rest, giving Kirby time to escape with a dutiful Wheelie that he freed earlier. Before he can do that, Meta Knight returns and flies after him, and the three escape right before the Halberd crashes into the sea below, ending the sub-game. Meta Knightmare Ultra Meta Knight appears in Kirby Super Star Ultra, reprising his role from the original game. He is a playable character in the Meta Knightmare Ultra sub-game, which is the equivalent of the Meta Knightmare sub-game in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land. In the original Meta Knightmare, he goes through the levels of Kirby's Adventure, but in Meta Knightmare Ultra, he goes through each original sub-game instead (save for The Arena, Gourmet Race and sub-games). Although progress can be saved this time, the player must select "new game" to replay the sub-game after beating it. There are cutscenes at the start and end of each sub-game that he plays through, and a few parts are skipped. Namely, he does not fight himself, unlike in the original Meta Knightmare. The Halberd inexplicably reappears and still ends up being destroyed, however. After completing Milky Way Wishes, he summons Nova and makes a wish to fight the greatest warrior in the Galaxy. Nova grants the wish by summoning Galacta Knight, an immaculate warrior sealed away long ago, who fights against Meta Knight as the final boss. Kirby's Pinball Land Meta Knight appears in Kirby's Pinball Land in the top stage of Kracko Land. He can only be found if the player has beaten King Dedede at least once. When Kirby defeats Mr. Bright, it will turn to night and Mr. Shine will appear with a wall of stars. If Kirby destroys all the stars without defeating Mr. Shine first, the sound of the microphone power-up from Kirby's Dream Land will be heard and Meta Knight will appear in the center of the stage. He does not move and cannot be hit. Kirby & The Amazing Mirror In Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, Meta Knight senses danger in the Mirror World and rushes off to protect it. After some time, a shadowy figure resembling Meta Knight suddenly drops from the sky and splits resident hero Kirby into four separate entities (Kirby can refer to each individual or all of them collectively). Kirby follows him and the adventure begins. Meta Knight isn't seen until well into the game at level eight, Radish Ruins, where Kirby fights what appears to be Meta Knight in a duel. Unlike in previous fights where he offers Kirby a sword, this time he doesn't, and the battle begins immediately. He is more aggressive and uses stronger versions of attacks that he used in Kirby Super Star and its remake Kirby Super Star Ultra. It turns out that the Meta Knight that Kirby fought in the Ruins wasn't the real Meta Knight at all, but a copy of his dark side known as Dark Meta Knight - the real Meta Knight was sealed within the Dimension Mirror. Dark Meta Knight has a greyed-out color scheme, but otherwise has similar apparel and eye color to Meta Knight himself. ? ? ? is the name that Dark Meta Knight had when he was disguised as Meta Knight. Dark Meta Knight later makes a reappearance as the penultimate boss. Once the Kirbys enter the Dimension Mirror, Dark Meta Knight engages them in battle once more. Right then, the real Meta Knight shows up standing on a large pillar and reveals Dark Meta Knight for the fraud that he is. After Dark Meta Knight literally breaks into pieces, Kirby get(s) sucked into a wormhole which leads to Dark Mind. Meta Knight, who was watching the battle the whole time, quickly helps Kirby by throwing his sword into the wormhole. Kirby catches the sword and gains the Master ability. After Dark Mind is destroyed, Meta Knight drops the sword (referred to as the Master Sword) in the Central Circle, signifying the end of the game. However, since he uses his sword in other games, he might have obtained a new one or retrieved it. Within the game, he appears wielding his sword in cutscenes as well as in one of Magic's roulette options. Kirby can be seen possessing the Master ability in almost all of these situations; this means the Master ability is either Meta Knight's original sword, a previously-unknown duplicate of the original, or his aforementioned "new" sword (a copy). Kirby: Squeak Squad In Kirby: Squeak Squad, Meta Knight once again plays a friendlier role, although is completely misunderstood at first. Although he doesn't come into play until later in the adventure, Squeak Squad is one of his most heroic roles in the series to date. Meta Knight appears at the end of Ice Island. After Kirby defeats Daroach and reclaims the chest presumably holding his precious Strawberry Shortcake, Meta Knight comes out of nowhere and steals it, and travels to a hidden place in or near Orange Ocean called the Secret Sea. The passageway to the Secret Sea is blocked by a door that can only be opened by collecting the five sacred Star Seals. Meta Knight is confronted as the boss of the seventh level, Secret Sea. Shortly before the boss battle, Meta Knight reactivates the Halberd, which flies him and Kirby up into Gamble Galaxy. The Halberd is where Meta Knight is fought, and is the setting for the last few levels of Secret Sea as well as Gamble Galaxy's first level. Meta Knight himself doesn't offer a sword before the battle, but in the room before him Kirby can access a Bubble with the Sword ability inside it. The stars Meta Knight kicks up during the fight will also grant the Sword ability. He is very offensive in this game, and attacks almost non-stop, making it difficult for Kirby to get hits in. If attacked head-on he will simply strike back instead of blocking. He employs the same attacks used in previous games, but also gains a variety of new elemental moves, such as striking his sword down to create an electrical charge around him and shooting crescents of fire across the screen. He turns around much faster than in previous games as well, making it harder to attack him from behind. Near the end of the game, Meta Knight's intentions are finally revealed. It turns out that the chest didn't contain the shortcake, but instead the Lord of Darkness, Dark Nebula. Meta Knight was really trying to stop the spread of evil during the game, which is a possible reason for his more aggressive attack style as he was actually trying to stop Kirby rather than prepare or otherwise train him as he has done previously. Kirby: Canvas Curse Meta Knight never appears story-wise in Kirby: Canvas Curse, but after unlocking King Dedede, the player can buy him in Medal Swap for 25 medals. He is very bouncy, fast, and light, but has only three Health Points. Meta Knight uses an invisible sword to take down enemies; players can hear a sound of him using it when he rolls into an enemy, as well as seeing a white slash line. Meta Knight floats in water, just like Kirby. He also appears (face only) in Paint Panic. Kirby's Epic Yarn Meta Knight appears in Kirby's Epic Yarn. After the player defeats King Dedede, the cutscene movie shows Meta Knight noticing strange changes in the Dream Land landscape while aboard the Halberd. Yin-Yarn ambushes him and turns him into yarn, making him the boss guarding the magic yarn of Space Land, the seventh and final piece of Patch Land. When the player fights him, he is being controlled by Yin-Yarn (via magical swords) and his eyes flicker rapidly between purple and yellow when he is not attacking. Meta Knight does not use Galaxia this time, but has four different swords provided by Yin-Yarn. As he uses up his yarn swords, Meta Knight's attacks grow more and more severe, firing multiple sword beams, covering the screen with fire, and he can summon tornadoes when he is down to his last one. His slashing attacks can only be dodged, but he is vulnerable to attack right after. Upon getting hit, Meta Knight falls backwards, and Kirby can disarm him by using the yarn whip on the button on his sword. After being defeated, Meta Knight is freed from Yin-Yarn's possession and disappears into his cape. He reappears in the next cutscene, apologizing to Kirby for attacking, and explains the situation in Dream Land. Kirby, Prince Fluff, Meta Knight and King Dedede go to Dream Land to stop Yin-Yarn, and he does not appear again until Kirby fights Mega Yin-Yarn, where Meta Knight flies overhead and drops the Tankbot metamortex for Kirby. Kirby Mass Attack Meta Knight is absent from the game's main storyline, but he does appear in two of the sub-games. In the Strato Patrol EOS, he is the penultimate boss. He attacks by charging horizontally from one side of the screen to the other, going downward each time until he reaches the bottom. He can also create five illusions of himself that will fire sword beams, though the illusions can be destroyed before they attack. Meta Knight himself can also fire sword beams and transform into a tornado to hit the Kirbys. In Kirby Quest, he appears as the final boss of Chapter 3 and as one of the last opponents in Chapter 4 (provided the player didn't unlock the fight with Galaxia). He attacks with a sword slash or a powerful tornado attack. He fights alone in Chapter 3, but is backed up by Sword Knight and Blade Knight in Chapter 4. However, Sword Knight and Blade Knight have over 2,000 less HP than their master. Kirby's Return to Dream Land Meta Knight is a playable character in multiplayer mode as well as in the Arena. He assists Kirby, King Dedede, and Waddle Dee in reconstructing the Lor Starcutter. Gameplay-wise, he is able to use Sword Kirby's attacks, as well as the Shuttle Loop, Hover Flap, and Dive-Bomb, moves exclusive to Wing, though the former behaving more like it did in Super Smash Bros. Brawl than it does for Wing. True to his vigilant character, he is always the first to notice something unusual in cutscenes. He is the only character in the group not to shake hands with Magolor, instead keeping his cape wrapped around himself (much like in the anime). He has two moves he has from Super Smash Bros. Brawl (as well as basic sword attacks). This shows that his Super Smash Bros. stats may have been used as his moveset so he wouldn't be exactly like Sword Kirby. Kirby: Triple Deluxe Meta Knight, though not present in the story, appears in this game as one of Stone Kirby's transfromations, where he turns into a statue of Bandana Waddle Dee, King Dedede, and Meta Knight. He also appears as a circus balloon, via Circus Kirby, as well as showing up in the final 100% movie in the crowd along with Galacta Knight, Magolor, Shadow Kirby, and many other characters from the game. Weaponry Dimensional Cape Meta Knight's Dimensional Cape (as named in Super Smash Bros. Brawl) allows him to manipulate space, and is a powerful weapon in its own right. His signature cape never received its official name, until relatively recently, much like Galaxia. Meta Knight most commonly wraps it around himself to teleport away. This tends to happen whenever his face is briefly revealed, or when he knows he has been defeated. He seems to be able to summon it at will. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Meta Knight can also use it to ebb out of reality for a short time. In his Final Smash Attack, the cape is used to petrify his enemies and cover the surrounding area in complete darkness, leaving them open to attacks from his sword. Interestingly, Super Smash Bros. Brawl suggested that the pair of bat-like wings which grant him flight and gliding capabilities are really an extension of the cape. This is also demonstrated in Kirby's Epic Yarn, where the cape is seen fluidly transforming into the wings in Meta Knight's yarn form. Galaxia The sword Galaxia is a solid gold blade with a ruby embedded in its hilt, with anywhere between zero to six spikes protruding from its sharp edges. In earlier games, the spikes were absent from Meta Knight's then-unnamed sword. In the games, Galaxia is capable of shooting out sword beams and standard sword moves. In Meta Knightmare Ultra, it absorbs the energy of a defeated foe, allowing Meta Knight to use special actions like the Mach Tornado, Meta Quick and Heal. Gallery Category:Nintendo Characters Category:Kirby Characters Category:Nintendo Entertainment System Debut Category:All Characters Category:Kirbies Category:Star warriors Category:King dedede's minions